


I need you to glow

by neyvenger (jjjat3am)



Category: Football RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-28 01:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2714240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjjat3am/pseuds/neyvenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was asked to provide an innocent explanation for the naked Kunessi photo. I delivered.</p><p>or</p><p>A peek into the head of Sergio 'Kun' Aguero, aged 17.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I need you to glow

**Author's Note:**

> The [photo](http://media.tumblr.com/7805d052dfc26b2add6afe248e96e059/tumblr_inline_nd191qyxNI1rbkdn5.jpg) in question. You're welcome.
> 
> As always, great thanks to Mai, who doesn't even blink when I ask for Argentinian male underwear brands. You're a jewel.

 

Kun isn't really comfortable walking around naked.

 

Maybe it's a weird hang-up to have, growing up in locker rooms the way he has, where privacy is this weird construct that exists outside the smell of sweaty feet and unwashed boys, but it's the way he is. Maybe the problem is in how he's always played with boys that were older and more developed than he was. There's only so much gleaming abdominals and hair in strange places that one boy can witness before he starts avoiding his hairless, slim reflection in the mirror.

 

So, Kun keeps his eyes on his feet, kit off, quick shower, clothes on, before most of his teammates can untie their shoes. It works for him and he finds no reason to change it. He socializes well enough when his clothes are on, sharing jokes and laughs with his teammates.

 

He always keeps his eyes above the waist. It's better that way.

 

The first time he gets called to play for his country, it's a dream come true and it's wonderful. So is the second time. The third time, he meets Lionel Messi. That makes it even better.

 

Kun is usually nervous when he gets a new roommate, but with Lio he's almost too excited to feel nerves. Lio is quiet and all the more mysterious for it, but with a ball he's the most incredible thing Kun has ever seen and he's itching to crack his skull open to see what makes him tick.

 

Lio takes one step into the room they're sharing, trips over one of Kun's stray shoes and almost brains himself on the floor. Kun didn't mean it quite so literately.

 

They stare at each other in horrified silence for a moments, Kun frozen on the bed, mid-leap, and Lio on the floor, before Kun breaks the silence with a joke, something silly that he can’t seem to remember later, but Lio laughs and he lets Kun pull him off the floor, and only subjects him to a cursory amount of teasing for being untidy.

 

They don't stop laughing for the rest of the night.

 

From then on, they always room together when they get called up. Kun's friends in the national team become Lio's friends in the national team, not that they were a big group in the first place. It's like one big family, with him and Lio in the center, that Kun misses terribly when he gets home. 

 

He doesn't get to talk to Lio much outside the call ups, at least at first. Kun doesn't have a cell phone and his parents are still paying for the landline. Calls are expensive and they still don't have a lot of money to spare. Lio calls him only once, stuttering when Kun's mama answers, but when Kun hears his voice, distorted by static and the miles between Buenos Aires and Barcelona, he feels something settle in his chest. He doesn't stop smiling for the rest of the week. The first bonus he gets at Independiente, for a beautiful winning goal, he sets out to buy a cell phone.

 

He gets really good at calculating time zones.

 

He and Lio just click somehow, and it's the most amazing partnership Kun has ever had, both on and off the field. It's perfect.

 

Except for one thing: Lionel Messi can't keep his damn clothes on for five minutes.

 

Okay, it's not like Lio walks naked outside or anything, but it seems like he considers their room free game and as soon as Kun turns his back he's already stripped down to a pair of faded black briefs and looking infuriatingly comfortable. Kun has learned to hide his head under the covers every time Lio walks out of the shower, because usually the only towel is the one wrapped around his head.

 

And then there's _"of course I sleep naked, Kun, otherwise I'll just get too hot!"_ Lio says it like Kun is the silly one and Kun covers his head with his sheet, never mind the fact that he's overheating under it.

 

It's not an issue, really.

 

(except for how he could probably draw Lio's body from memory at this point. except for how the dreams start as soon as he gets home and he's so damn glad that they bought a new washing machine with his last paycheck so he doesn't have to subject his poor mother to this.

he's totally fine.)

 

Lio pretty much has zero respect for personal privacy, which is actually great, because he lets Kun hang all over him the way the other guys don't, but it also means that it takes everything Kun has to stifle a scream when he spots Lio calmly brushing his teeth on the other side of the shower curtain. While Kun is in the middle of showering.

 

"You sing in the shower." Lio remarks later, as they're getting ready for bed. Kun has already muted the TV, a habit by now.

 

"Yeah," Kun says, stubbornly keeping his eyes on the screen, "you would know. Since you were watching me shower and all."

 

"The shower curtain is really thick, Kun," Lio says and Kun looks up (and has to keep his gaze up), "it's not like I could see anything.

 

"Not like there's much too see anyway," Kun mutters, dropping his gaze, only to immediately redirect it to the wall next to Lio. He feels Lio's gaze sharpen in concern and curses mentally. He sometimes forgets how well Lio can read his moods.

 

"I think you have a really nice body, Kun." Lio says and Kun's eyes snap back to his face in shock. Lio looks completely earnest, the tips of his ears turning red being the only indication of his embarrassment. Which is kind of comforting, because Kun's face is burning.

 

Lio looks like he might say something else, but Kun effectively finishes the conversation by laying down and throwing the sheet over his head, like some sort of teenage footballer version of hide and seek.

 

He's not sure if Lio hears his muffled "thank you", but after a moment, he hears the rustling of the sheets on the other bed and Lio's breathing evening into sleep.

 

But the thing is, Lio makes it so easy to forget about his hang ups, even more when Kun starts to actually get used to his presence. So, one moment they’d be laughing and joking around, and the next Kun would be waking up with his sweaty cheek sticking to Lio’s collarbone.

 

Lio’s nakedness becomes just another part of him that Kun accepts, from his constantly bruised shins to the round little needle scars on his lower back from his growth treatment. And maybe Kun starts lingering in front of the mirror more, first without a shirt, then just in his underwear and then without, trying to figure out what Lio’s _“you have a nice body”_ might mean.

 

The first time he goes without a shirt in Lio’s presence is in the middle of high summer and the air is unbearably hot. Kun has been barely able to breathe under his training kit and all he wants is a cool shower and then maybe to sit in front of the air conditioning vent for a while. Except for how he comes to the room to find Lio looking miserable and hot, the air in the room almost as stifling as the one outside. Turns out that the air conditioning is broken in the hotel where they’re staying, and that everyone just has to suck it up and deal.

 

Kun feels cooler after a shower, but it’s not long before he starts sweating again, trying in vain to find a part of his bed that’s colder than the others. He watches Lio enviously, not too worse for wear in just his underwear, a light sheen of sweat on his chest…

 

Kun needs another shower.

 

He considers his reflection in the mirror afterwards and the disgustingly sweaty shirt in his hands. Walking out of the bathroom without it takes less courage than he thought it would.

 

Lio doesn’t say anything about it and they fall into their usual banter easily. Kun catches him looking once, but Lio looks away quickly. His eyes seem a shade darker than usual, but it could be just a trick of the heat.

 

It goes from there; sometimes Kun doesn’t put on his shirt, sometimes he takes off his shorts to model his new Eyelit boxers for Lio, who mostly rolls his eyes at him, but will admit that they’re nice. Kun will sometimes catch him watching him with a strange heat in his gaze, will feel it like a brand when he bends over. He knows what it means, though he isn’t sure that Lio does. After all this time, Lio is still an enigma to him sometimes.

 

Still, it means that Kun maybe sits closer to Lio than before, that sometimes he’ll curl up on Lio’s bed with him instead of his own and pretend to be asleep just to stay close, and that he’ll throw his arm around Lio’s waist in a gesture that’s almost too casual, all for…what? That, maybe, Messi will finally get the hint about something else than football?

 

They get called in for the U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands, Kun fresh from a mixed season from Independiente and Lio still waiting for his first team debut at Barcelona. They lose against the United States, somewhat unexpectedly, but power through to the final. Nigeria is tough; they keep them on their guard until the very end. Then, Kun gets fouled in the box, knowing that Lio will score the moment his knees hit the pitch with a crunch. Lio doesn’t let him down and later, they lift the trophy together, grinning at each other across the silver. It’s not golden, not like the one they talk about sometimes, when the room is dark and they both can’t sleep, but it’s something they won together, something that they all won for their country.

 

The rest of the evening is a party and Kun loses sight of Lio somewhere around when he gets pulled into a cumbia with Biglia. He searches for him in the mass of people on the conference floor of the hotel where they’re having their impromptu party, but he doesn’t find him until later, when the music has quieted down and most of the party is asleep in their rooms or the couches (except for Zaba and Biglia who are still going strong, but he’s managed to dodge them half an hour ago).

 

Lio has taken up a big lounge couch entirely for himself and even has a comforter from one of the beds settled on it. He looks entirely comfortable, so Kun can’t keep himself from jumping on and lounging next to him.

 

“Hey,” Leo grins down at him, “finally tired of the party?”

 

“Tired of the Argentina U-20 World Cup party, so now I’m here for the Lionel Messi Best Scorer Party.” Kun makes himself comfortable, half on Lio and half on the couch, and it’s not until Lio’s hand settles low on his spine that he realizes that he’s lost his shirt and his shorts somewhere in the proceedings. He’s been walking around in his underwear for god knows how many hours and he didn’t even notice.

 

Lio pulls him closer, pressing a light kiss against his hair and Kun relaxes against him, feeling warm and mellow. Lio gives off heat like a furnace and Kun presses in closer, suddenly cold. Lio makes a soft noise and when Kun looks up, he finds him watching his mouth.

 

They’re more than a little bit buzzed and it would be so easy to close those last few centimeters between their mouths, so easy to press their bodies closer. Kun has been dreaming about this, how it would feel with Lio, and it would be so easy to not have to wonder any more.

 

It’s that moment that Zaba chooses to crash through the doorway with his mini-radio and his loud posse, and Kun loves him, he does, but not right now. They move apart, try to create some distance between themselves before they others spot them.

 

“There they are!” Biglia yells from where he’s drunkenly attempting to pull Zabaleta off the floor. “Two of Argentina’s top scorers.”

 

“A picture! A picture!” someone calls out and the newly restored Zabaleta pulls out a squashed up disposable camera from one of his pockets, and then Kun only has enough time to attempt a smile before the cheap button clicks, to raucous laughter.

 

Lio gets up right after, breezing past the over-enthusiastic pats on the back with barely a glance. Kun feels the cold of his absence immediately. At least until Lio pauses at the door, raising an eyebrow when he sees that Kun still hasn’t moved. Kun doesn’t need to be told twice.

 

He squeezes past his teammates and follows Lio out the door.

 

The hall is much quieter, the carpet soft against their bare feet. Lio is walking a few steps in front of him and Kun jogs to catch up. Lio’s hands are swinging at his sides, almost awkward, like he never quite learned to walk casually, always ready to break out into a run.

 

Kun reaches out and takes his hand.

 

Lio almost stumbles over his feet, shooting Kun a startled look that changes into a small smile when he sees Kun’s happy grin. His fingers tighten around Kun’s.

 

The walk the rest of the way to their room in silence, footsteps muted on the carpet of a Netherlands hotel, just in their underwear and their hands swinging in the space between their bodies.

 

 

*

 

 

It’s not until many years later that Kun sees the picture from that night, grayscale and grainy, and a lot more incriminating than what actually happened. Or rather, for what actually happened in public.

 

He attaches it to a message to Lio anyway, captions it with _‘eramos tan novios’_ , before curling up underneath his comforter and falling asleep listening to the Manchester rain, wishing for a familiar warmth beside him.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> ‘eramos tan novios’ - We were so together/ We were such boyfriends
> 
> In 2005, the Argentina Youth Team won the U-20 World Championship in Netherlands. They won 2-1 against Nigeria in the finals, both goals were scored by Lionel Messi, the second was a penalty after Kun was fouled in the box.  
> The team included Leo, Kun, Pablo Zabaleta, Lucas Biglia and Angel Di Maria.
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](http://neyvenger.tumblr.com/), we can cry over footballers together.


End file.
